1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical mouse, and more particularly to, an optical mouse which can move a cursor on a display screen of a computer system by totally reflecting light, which is emitted from a light source and is reflected upon a surface after transmitting through a glass, using a prism and varying a light path to condense the light on a light-receiving lens so as to allow an optical sensor to sense an image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in a mouse used as a main input means of a computer, a mechanically moving portion, for example, a ball mouse having a ball has problems in that sliding occurs due to dust and a user""s movement may not be exactly transferred to a display screen of a computer system when the user moves the ball mouse. Also, a problem arises in that it is difficult to use the ball mouse for a long time due to abrasion of the ball and parts in contact with the ball.
To solve such problems, there has been suggested an optical mouse. The optical mouse includes a sensor array consisting of a plurality of optical sensors, optical parts for condensing light reflected upon the optical sensors, and mechanical structures.
FIG. 1 shows a relationship between a surface and a sensor array. Referring to FIG. 1, light emitted from a light source such as a light-emitting diode (LED) is reflected upon the surface, and cells of optical sensors of the sensor array sense the reflected light.
FIG. 2 shows tracking by comparison of bitmaps. Referring to FIG. 2, a sensor array consisting of a plurality of optical sensors compares bitmaps generated by sensing light, so that movement and direction of devices are provided by movement of a cursor of a computer system.
At this time, the generated bitmaps are constituted by a quadratic equation (1 or 0).
FIG. 3 shows a configuration of a related art optical mouse.
Referring to FIG. 3, a reference numeral 11 denotes a button pressed by a user, a reference numeral 12 denotes a switch turned on/off depending on the operation of the button 11, and a reference numeral 13 denotes a circuit board that supports the switch 12.
Also, a reference numeral 14 denotes a light source that emits light, a reference numeral 15 denotes a lens for condensing light, and a reference numeral 16 denotes a housing that supports the overall structure. A reference numeral 17 denotes a lens integrated circuit (IC) that includes a sensor array, a logic circuit, and an inverter. A reference numeral 18 denotes a surface and a reference numeral 19 denotes an optical guide that guides light from the surface 18 to the lens IC 17.
The operation of the aforementioned optical mouse will briefly be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Light emitted from the light source 14 and reflected upon the surface 18 is condensed by the lens 15 and transferred to cells of the optical sensor of the lens IC 17, so that the optical sensor array converts moving optical images sensed by light to circuit signals. Thus, the converted circuit signals are transferred to a computer system to be displayed on a display screen by moving a cursor.
That is, since most of the emitted light is reflected upon a general surface, sufficient light to be sensed by the sensor is obtained. Accordingly, no problem arises in that the optical mouse is operated.
However, the optical mouse, as shown in FIG. 5, has a surface far away from a glass by a thickness of the glass in transferring the light to the sensor. In this case, light of 90% or greater is transmitted on the glass to cause the amount of the reflected light to be inadequate, thereby resulting in that the sensor fails to sens the light. For this reason, a problem arises in that the sensor does not function as a control device.
In other words, the aforementioned optical mouse is based on light irregularly reflected upon the surface. As shown in FIG. 5, light which has not passed through a transparent medium such as a glass is absolutely lacking in the amount of irregularly reflected light. After all, the aforementioned related art optical mouse has several problems. The optical sensor fails to sense images on the glass so as not to move a cursor of a display screen of the computer system. This is because the light-receiving lens and the sensor are set at a particular point in an irregularly reflected light path on the surface under the circumstances that there is no transparent medium, at the time of design of the optical mouse, so as not to allow the reflected light which has transmitted through the transparent medium to advance the light-receiving lens and the sensor.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an optical mouse which can move a cursor on a display screen of a computer system by totally reflecting light, which is emitted from a light source and is reflected upon a surface after transmitting a glass, using a prism and varying a light path to condense the light on a light-receiving lens so as to allow an optical sensor to sense an image.
To achieve the above object, there is provided an optical mouse which includes a light source for emitting light, an irradiating lens for irradiating the light emitted from the light source to a surface, a light-receiving lens for condensing light irregularly reflected upon the surface in the light emitted from the light source and irradiated through the irradiating lens, a total reflection prism for allowing the light emitted from the light source and irradiated through the irradiating lens to be located on a path where totally reflected light upon the surface advances, after transmitting through a transparent material such as glass, and reflected incident light by a reflecting surface to be condensed on the light-receiving lens, and an optical sensor for sensing the light condensed through the light-receiving lens.
The optical mouse according to the present invention is characterized in that the irradiating lens, the light-receiving lens, and the total reflection prism are formed in an integral form with one another.